Blending Modes with Adjustment Layers

ND
Posted By
Norm Dresner
Mar 5, 2008
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386
Replies
4
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Closed
Okay, I just had my mind blown by discovering that using blending modes with adjustment layers can give all sorts of bizarre effects. And another explosion occurred when I started to paint with black on a Levels layer set to Lighten mode and discovered that it could be made to darken areas painted over.

Aside from long and protracted experimentation, is there anywhere to learn about such complex topics? A book? A web site?

TIA
Norm
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Mike Russell
Mar 6, 2008
"Norm Dresner" wrote in message
Okay, I just had my mind blown by discovering that using blending modes with
adjustment layers can give all sorts of bizarre effects. And another explosion occurred when I started to paint with black on a Levels layer set
to Lighten mode and discovered that it could be made to darken areas painted
over.

Aside from long and protracted experimentation, is there anywhere to learn about such complex topics? A book? A web site?

Blending modes are dynamite, and particularly powerful in Lab mode, where you can select a color range independent of brightness.

Dan Margulis has detailed discussions of how to use them in his books Professional Photoshop, and Photoshop Lab Color. This month’s Photoshop User magazine had a tutorial on using them.
—
Mike Russell – www.curvemeister.com
K
KatWoman
Mar 6, 2008
"Mike Russell" wrote in message
"Norm Dresner" wrote in message
Okay, I just had my mind blown by discovering that using blending modes with
adjustment layers can give all sorts of bizarre effects. And another explosion occurred when I started to paint with black on a Levels layer set
to Lighten mode and discovered that it could be made to darken areas painted
over.

Aside from long and protracted experimentation, is there anywhere to learn
about such complex topics? A book? A web site?

Blending modes are dynamite, and particularly powerful in Lab mode, where you can select a color range independent of brightness.

Dan Margulis has detailed discussions of how to use them in his books Professional Photoshop, and Photoshop Lab Color. This month’s Photoshop User magazine had a tutorial on using them.
—
Mike Russell – www.curvemeister.com

I have no idea HOW they work but I sure have fun seeing what they do and have used them a lot since discovering them
After using them awhile you can get a good idea of WHAT they do by looking

part of the fun of creativity can be discovering "happy accidents", that is maybe you see something great you did not anticipate by your mind in advance

One really simple technique to make models look nicer
take a portrait type shot
dupe the layer
change that layer mode to screen
watch the skin clean up!!!
then use some curves to get back the proper tones in the dark areas

cool no??
P
Pudentame
Mar 6, 2008
Norm Dresner wrote:
Okay, I just had my mind blown by discovering that using blending modes with adjustment layers can give all sorts of bizarre effects. And another explosion occurred when I started to paint with black on a Levels layer set to Lighten mode and discovered that it could be made to darken areas painted over.

Aside from long and protracted experimentation, is there anywhere to learn about such complex topics? A book? A web site?

TIA
Norm

There’s a lot of free tutorials on YouTube. Some of them may be helpful.
R
ronviers
Mar 7, 2008
On Mar 5, 5:22 pm, "Norm Dresner" wrote:
Okay, I just had my mind blown by discovering that using blending modes with adjustment layers can give all sorts of bizarre effects. And another explosion occurred when I started to paint with black on a Levels layer set to Lighten mode and discovered that it could be made to darken areas painted over.

Aside from long and protracted experimentation, is there anywhere to learn about such complex topics? A book? A web site?

TIA
Norm

Hi Norm,
One of the interesting things about blend modes is how they are grouped. Darken, multiply, color burn, linear burn are together. Lighten, screen, color dodge, linear dodge are together, etc. Adobe had their choice of how to group them and they chose these groupings. Can you guess what delineates one group from the other?

Brgds,
Ron

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